The Boy Who Flew and the Girl Who Grew
by feisu-chan
Summary: “All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust, you annoying little girl,” Sasuke smirked. “Now, flap your arms like this and jump and fly. See, it’s easy. Now off we go to the Hidden Village of Neverland!”
1. Enter, Uchiha Sasuke!

Hi! I was reading Alice in Wonderland just now, and somehow it made me remember **Peter Pan**. So, my creative juices suddenly pumped through my system, and i decided to write a new story for Sakura and Sasuke, based on my favorite childhood bedtime story Peter Pan. I hope you like it.

Oh, and one reason why i just have to write this story is because i need a break from my **Of Redemption **series. and i hated the **Naruto chapter 481 **that came out yesterday... Argh! i just needed something to make me believe Sasuke is still redeemable. Are you guys feeling the same depressing feeling as i do now? T_T

Disclaimers: Characters are based on **Kishimoto Masashi's Naruto**, and the plot is based on **JM Barrie's Peter Pan and Wendy**.

Read and review please!!!

* * *

Sakura was the eldest of the three siblings of the respected man in their village, Namikaze Minato, and the most beautiful woman who showed a sweet mocking smile which Sakura herself could never mimic, Uzumaki Kushina. Kiba was the second son, whose time and affection was spent to their nanny-dog Akamaru as if the dog herself bore him into the world. And last was Naruto, whose yellow hair spiked up resembling his great father, and who snickered so much like Minato when he was young, narrated their mother.

Kiba got his gentle eyes from their mother and his naughty grin from their father. But sometimes, Sakura would note that he might really have gotten those grins from Akamaru; and sometimes, Sakura believed that he might really be Akamaru's lost child.

At times when Sakura looked at the mirror and saw her bubblegum-colored hair and perfectly polished jade eyes, she often wonder if she was adopted or she was secretly an empress who was lost in the forest of the Hidden Village among the Stars, and then the gallant Minato saw her crying under the bushes and took her home to their little home among the Leaves under the care of the affectionate Kushina.

Her mother would only laugh at her and shake her head. "You read too many fantasy stories, my child. Of course you are our wonderful daughter. Your cherry-blossomed hair was the result of your father's yellow hair and my red. Your grassy green eyes were from his blues and my brown. It's Kami-sama's funny color combination. So you have a touch of me, and a pint from your father."

After that, Kushina would kiss her daughter on the cheek and hug her tight and cried, "Oh, why can't you remain like this forever?"

"Remain like what, kaa-chan?" would always be Sakura's reply.

"Remain forever seven and cute and cuddly and so small I could wrap my arms completely around you," Kushina would always answer. But Sakura knew that all children must grow up, and all children would grow tall and she wanted to grow as tall as their bedroom door so she could just tap at the beam of the door instead of always trying to jump at it and reach it whenever she pass through it. She also wanted to grow as tall as the Christmas tree so she didn't have to pull her father's arms forcibly just to carry her so she can hang the star on top.

But just as the knowledge and common sense of all children growing became as clear as day for Sakura, she knew that all but one child ever grew old. Uchiha Sasuke.

He's that flying boy who flew to every child's dream at night or during afternoon catnaps. And Sakura would get a visit from him each time she closed her eyes ever since she was three. Kiba was also aware of Uchiha Sasuke, and at daytime, he would pester Akamaru to teach him how to fly; reasoning out that studying and shuriken training were all nonsensical when you know how to fly. Being a man, he would say, was all about flying.

Naruto was also all giggly when the children would gather around and talk about Uchiha Sasuke. He would flap his arms like a bird and run around the room, not minding the rough contacts of his soles with the tatami mats. He would also always demand for a bowl of ramen with lots and lots of miso be served on the foot of his crib before they sleep. It would be for Uchiha Sasuke, he would say. But in the middle of the night, the ramen would end up on his large little goofy mouth, reasoning out that Uchiha Sasuke had asked him to eat it for him.

"But he could be cocky sometimes, and all he could say was a puny little 'hn'," Sakura complained, pouting and folding her arms across her chest.

"Who is, my love?" Kushina asked, startled at her daughter's sudden monologue.

"Why Uchiha Sasuke, who else? He never said a word to me. He only looks back at me and coolly speaks, 'You really are annoying.'"

"Well, little boys are like that sometimes. They say things opposite to what they mean. And sometimes, they act as if they hate the girl they really like."

"He doesn't like me, kaa-chan. And boys don't act that way. Kiba-kun doesn't. He always says what he means. And Naru-chan really loves me so he kisses me always on my cheek and hugs me each time he greets me with 'Ohayo' or 'Oyasumi, Saku-neechan!'"

Again, her mother would only laugh at her and shake her head. That sweet mocking smile just above the tip of her lips would always appear. Sakura would call that thing 'a kiss'. And whenever she saw the kiss on her mother's lip, she rushed to the mirror of their bedroom hanging beside their window, and practiced smiling until the kiss would appear above the tip of her lips. But it never did.

"Maybe I'm looking at myself the wrong way. It could be this mirror being old and dirty and no longer glassy as all mirrors should," she pouted again. "Maybe I'll ask Uchiha Sasuke if the kiss is already on my smile." She said as she closed her eyes that evening. And that said evening, she dreamt. Of Uchiha Sasuke and of fairies and of pirates that wanted Uchiha Sasuke dead, and of ticking crocodiles and lost boys.

Sakura was having such a joyous dream that felt all too real, when the windows suddenly burst open and leaves that did not grow in Konoha Gardens danced their way in to the bedroom Sakura shared with her brothers. Akamaru, being their nanny-dog, was quick on her knees and barked at a little boy with black hair spiking at the back of his head and a smirk so original that one could say it was his signature smile, so much like Kushina's kiss. The boy stood on the window staring at the dog like it was the stupidest thing he had ever seen.

But Akamaru's barks and growls grew louder that each one seemed to make the dog grow in size. Sakura woke up, rubbing her eyes of any sleep dusts. "What's the matter, Akamaru?" And when she opened her eyes, she saw a boy fell from their open windows down to the road below, and then the boy flew up to the roof, passing her window again. In the process of falling and flying up again, the windows shut closed, allowing only the moonlight to pass through.

"Uchiha Sasuke-kun! It can't be!" She exclaimed, her hands on her mouth. "I cannot believe he left yet another mess. Leaves all around! Did he really have no time to learn house cleaning?" Sakura jumped out of her bed and picked up each leaves that the boy had trashed in their bedroom.

"Seriously, that boy needs to learn his manners. He should always, always leave his shoes outside. Poor Akamaru and Kaa-chan would have to clean these dirty tatami floors. Kaa-chan would blame Kiba and Naruto for this again." Sakura stacked the leaves on her nightgown, opened the window, threw them out, and closed it. As she turned around to face her bed, a black something bumped into her and it went to the window, trying to get out.

She almost screamed, but she noticed that the black something had an outline of a young boy that was only inches taller that her, and the top where the hair was had spikes that reminded her of Uchiha Sasuke. Sakura gripped on the black something and held him away from the window. She inspected it and it felt like cotton cloth, traced out of Uchiha Sasuke's frame.

"Are you Uchiha Sasuke's shadow?" she asked. And the thing nodded, much to Sakura's surprise. She thought shadows speak a different language, that she didn't really think the shadow would understand her. "Well, if you are, then Sasuke-kun would return tomorrow night and get you back. He even left you here; he's really childish and irresponsible." Sakura folded the shadow in a neat square, straightened it out with her hands before storing it on her bedside drawer.

"If I see him again, I'll give him an hour long lecture, and make him do his bed, and clean his dishes and sweep his floor and show him my kiss," rambled Sakura, as she yawned and drifted back to sleep to dream of that naughty little boy with no manners and no other words but a 'hn' and who smirked like an idiot and called her annoying whenever she laughed.

* * *

Thanks for reading...

Share me your thoughts... or i'll ask Sasuke-kun to run a Chidori straight to your heart, with Karin in front of you... BWAHAHAHAHA

(I'm really hang-up on that latest Naruto Manga Chapter... Come back to me, Sasuke-kun and we will leave happily ever after...)


	2. Come, and I'll Give You Thimbles!

Disclaimer! I know Sasuke being Peter Pan is a major OOC, and he's not that brooding hateful Sasuke we all know and love. But note that Sasuke is a kid here, like he's seven. Imagine him as the little Sasuke all happy with Itachi before the Uchiha Massacre.

I really need to write this story, since i think of it as a therapy... haha... i'm still reeling over the latest chapter and i hated Sasuke because of what he did. I, myself, couldn't think that he's still redeemable. haha... that's why i can't get myself to continue writing **Of Redemption** just yet.

Anyway, i'm rambling again. Thanks for the review, **frostqueen** (sorry, i didn't spell your name with a DOT... It's erasing your name when it's with a dot)! I like the movie too! The one played by the blond cute boy?! in fact, i just watched it last night after reading your review! Thanks again.

Hope you'd like this next chapter. And review please... XD

* * *

For a seven-year-old, Sakura grew up to be smart and dependable and too old for her age. Being the eldest could sometimes do that to a child. Also, having a dog for a nanny could make a child grow fast, Kushina had noted.

"Akamaru-san, this is Uchiha Sasuke's. I placed it in my drawer so I can give it to him as soon as he returns. Please make sure that Kiba or Naruto wouldn't play with it. It's not normal for children, or any person for that matter, to not have a shadow. We shouldn't lose it." Kushina watched her daughter leave instructions to Akamaru.

_Who ever this Uchiha Sasuke is?_ She just thought. But still this Uchiha Sasuke had retained a bit of childish enthusiasms to the fast-growing Sakura. She may no longer believe in fairy tales her mother had read to her brothers at night, or hug any plushie to sleep, or even jump up and down with glee when the ice cream man passed by or when the dentist offered her a lollipop after each dental cleaning. Yet Sakura believed in Uchiha Sasuke, and was even convinced of his existence.

The next evening after Uchiha Sasuke recklessly left his poor shadow behind, the Namikaze couple would be out after dinner to attend the prestigious annual ball that requires all Konohagakure ninjas' presence. The Daimyo of the Fire Country would also be there. So, after dinner, Kushina hurriedly bathed the three children, forced medicine down to their throat – only for Kiba and Naruto actually, as Sakura was prim to drink it all up – dressed them in to their nightdresses, and tuck them in to bed, all with the help of Akamaru. Kushina had sang Naruto to sleep, who couldn't do it on his own without the voice of his mother, and Akamaru had lapped Kiba's face up to his contentment. Kushina lastly combed Sakura's long pink hair and kissed her goodnight.

Akamaru had accompanied Minato and his wife up to the gate and watched them walk down the strees of their alley. She closed the gate behind her and locked it, just as how Minato had taught her. But instead of smoothly being able to sneak into the little hole on the door especially made for her, she bumped into it. Her little door was locked, and the backdoor was locked, and she was stuck outside for the night! With no one to look after her three precious children!

Akamaru thought of something to let her in. And as the dog contemplated, as distinct star twinkled among the other stars scattered against the dark backdrop.

"Now, Sasuke!" It said. And in an instant, Uchiha Sasuke flew from behind one of the stars, where he was watching and hiding, and straight into the window sill he had been the night before.

Akamaru sensed danger and looked up to the children's room and saw that same boy who fearlessly stared at her last night. She barked and barked to scare him off, but he just smirked and gave her a mocking salute before entering through the window his fairy companion had opened.

"Ino… Ino! Are you here?" Sasuke whispered, cautious not to wake the sleeping children. "Have you seen it? My shadow?"

"It's in the drawer! Beside the middle bed, to its right. Upper drawer, Sasuke-kun!" Ino screeched rather loudly, but she intended it as a whisper. The calming tingle of her bells and her pixie dusts were unheard because of her loud voice. Ino was the only fairy whom ordinary children can hear. Normal fairies could only be understood by Sasuke, and could only give out chimes of bells as a response. But Ino's abnormally large voice box allowed her to be heard even by children whose hearings were slightly impaired.

"Keep it down, Ino!" He commanded, as he approached the drawer and opened it ever so slowly. There lied his stupid shadow that couldn't fly as fast as him. Served it right. Sasuke grabbed the shadow and shut the drawer excitedly, forgetting Ino was inside, and in turn locking her in.

But as irresponsible as he was, Sasuke didn't know the nature of his own shadow. Who wouldn't know that when one's feet touched the feet of his shadow, the shadow would repel? Every body knew that, all except Sasuke's playful mind. So as playful as he is, he stuck his tongue on the shadow and wet the shadow's feet with his saliva, thinking it would stick on to him, like the envelope or a stamp. But it didn't work, and he had run out of ideas.

So he sat on the floor and locked his fingers in his signature thinking pose, with his knees propped up to support his elbows, and brooded. He was watching his shadow threw raspberries at him so much like a stupid little child.

"Uh, ano, why are you crying?"

Sasuke jumped at the sound of the voice and looked around his shoulder to see a little girl groggy with sleep, her face only inches away from him. From the way the moon lit the room, he could see the girl had an awful pink hair. Boys didn't like pink. Pink were for girls. But Sasuke thought that shade of pink was perfect for her.

"I'm not crying, baka!"

"Then what are you doing on the floor?"

"Can't you see I'm fixing my shadow?"

Sakura pushed herself up and got off the bed. She stood in front of the boy and bowed.

"Namikaze Sakura. What's your name?" Sasuke just stared at her, but in an instant, he stood and bowed, much like a prince bowing to a lady he was about to waltz with.

"Uchiha Sasuke. Pleased to meet you." You see, Sasuke might be naughty and ill-bred and cocky and irresponsible at times, but he can be polite sometimes.

"Can I call you Sasuke-kun? I gather you are around my age, ne? And you don't seem to be like the person who minds to be called by your first name on first meetings."

"Do as you please," he shrugged.

"Where do you live?"

"Second to the right," Sasuke pointed to the sky visible on her window. "And straight on till morning."

Sakura nodded, as if she understood what he just said. "That's a funny address."

"No, it's not."

"But, there were no numbers or street names. Is that what people write in letters?"

"I don't receive letters."

"Why not?" He shrugged again. "Your mother never gets letters neither?"

"I don't have a mother."

"Oh dear! That's why you were crying!"

"I wasn't crying!" He protested. "I was thinking. And I was thinking how I can fix my shadow!"

"Oh, right! You left it here last night. It seemed like it fell off," Sakura placed a finger on her chin, giving Sasuke the impression that she pondered a lot. So, therefore, she must be smart. And she really was. "I shall sew it for you, my little man." She declared.

"Sew? What's that?"

Sakura moved about the room and searched for her sewing kit. "I'm not really in the mood to explain such things to you. Especially knowing that a boy like you don't know much about house chores."

"A boy like me?"

"Hai." She sat down beside him, and signaled him to do the same. He obeyed. "This may hurt a bit, Sasuke-kun."

"It's okay. I can take it. I won't cry." And so, Sakura started sewing the shadow to his feet, and Sasuke only winced but never crying or gasping in pain. "There, looks good as new," she commented once finished. "I suggest you don't run around too often as it might fall off again."

But Sasuke wasn't listening and he was flying all around and kicking his feet to test his shadows, laughing out loud in the process. "I did it! I did it! Oh, the cleverness of me!"

"Of course, I didn't do anything, ne?" Sakura pouted, and slipped under her mattresses. What an insolent boy. Couldn't even utter the words 'thank you.'

Sasuke stopped what he was doing, and looked over at Sakura, who had covered her head with a blanket, seemingly asleep. But Sasuke knew she was only pretending to be asleep. So he played along and pretended to go away. But she didn't budge, and Sasuke didn't want to go just yet.

"Sakura, I was only joking. I couldn't help myself from crowing." But still she didn't reveal herself from the covers, much less move to indicate she's listening.

"Sakura, one girl is of more use than twenty boys." But he said it in a crooning voice that every little girl who would hear it wouldn't resist. Sakura peaked through the blankets and little by little showed him her beaming face.

"You really think so?" She blushed.

"Yes, I do."

"That's so sweet of you. Okay, then I will get up again." She sat on the bed, mattresses withdrawn, and motioned Sasuke to sit beside her. "I will give you a kiss."

"A kiss? What is that?"

"Nani?!" Sakura looked at him like he was growing another head. "You don't know what a kiss is?"

"I shall know when you give it to me." Never in her life had she met a person who never knew what a kiss was. Does this mean he never had one? But he didn't have parents, so no one could give him one. But Sakura didn't really intend to give him a kiss, so she just gave the thimble on her thumb she had forgotten to remove after sawing.

"Is it my turn to give you a kiss?" he naively asked.

"If you please."

"Okay." So Sakura positioned herself, inclining her head a little and pouting her lips to receive his kiss. But Sasuke just handed her a shuriken, and Sakura was reminded that Sasuke didn't know what a true kiss was.

"Arigato. I shall wear your kiss around my neck, Sasuke-kun," she said, reaching over to her drawer and retrieving a lace for Sasuke's shuriken.

"Don't you have a father, Sasuke-kun?"

"I ran away when I was born."

"What? Why?"

"Because I overheard my father telling my mother that I should be the best ninja in the village. But I don't want that. I want to play, and sleep, and eat and then play again, and sleep and eat."

"Oh. I see. Where did you live?"

"Konoha Gardens."

"Oh, that's here. You lived here before. So where do you live now?"

"In Neverland, with the lost boys."

"Lost boys? Who are they?"

"Just some bunch of lost kids. They don't have manners, and they've never heard a story before."

"That's awful!"

"Aa. One is lazy and watches the clouds from morning till dusk, one eats a lot and sometimes we have to hide our food so he won't eat it all; one is so hyperactive and jumps a lot, one speaks so confusingly and only talks straight to bugs; and the twins but they don't really look alike, they're both silent."

"They sound adorable."

"They're not. They're annoying. Would you like to come with me?"

"Co-come with you?"

"Aa. Those kids need a girl to teach them good conduct and to read them storybooks and –"

"Oh, Sasuke-kun, I'd love to!" Sakura, being the grown-up woman that she was, accepted the offer without having to bat an eyelash.

"Really? You'd really come?"

"Hai!"

"Ok then, it's settled. You'd be the mother of the lost boys," he stood up, hands on his waist, proclaiming his order.

"Mother?!" She exclaimed with glee. She stood beside him and hugged him. "Oh, I could give you a kiss again!"

"A kiss? Would you like it back?" Sasuke handed the thimble Sakura gave him earlier.

"Oh, right. What I mean is, is shall give you a, a thimble." Sasuke waited for his thimble, and Sakura shifted her head to meet his. She had felt the breath of his lips when her hair suddenly pulled her back and stopped her.

"Ouch!"

"What?" Sasuke looked behind her and saw yellow streaks of lights twinkling against pink locks.

"Ino!" He grabbed her but Ino got out and sprung across the room.

"Is, is that a fairy?"

"Aa. That's Ino."

"There's a fairy in my room?!"

"Aa. You're annoying."

But Sakura didn't mind the insult and just clapped her hands in amazement.

"Oh, Ino-chan! I hope we could be great friends!"

"Fat chance! I won't be friends with someone as ugly as you. And with someone that has an ugly wide forehead!"

"Eh?!"

"Ino's impolite sometimes," Sasuke explained. "I think the lost boys got that attitude from her."

"Che!" Ino stuck her tongue out. "If you ever _thimble_ Sasuke-kun again, I will kill you!"

"Hey! That not really nice!"

"Don't mind her. She could be really jealous. So, you're ready to go?"

"Go? Now? How do we get there?"

"We fly, of course!"

"Fly? But I don't know how to fly."

"So? I'll just have to teach you."

Sakura shrieked and jumped up and down her bed. "Oh! Can I bring Kiba and Naruto, too?"

Sasuke gave her a long look and glanced over her two siblings. But he could only scrunch his nose. Neverland didn't need another pair of dirty, ill-bred little boys. What it needed was a fine lady to teach them fine things. He looked back to Sakura, who had those wide emerald eyes staring back at him with hope and excitement and concealed juvenile adventure.

What the heck. If it'd make her say yes, then –

"Sure, they can come."

"Kyaaaaa! Kiba! Naruto!" She jumped from one bed to another, but still held that gracefulness a proper lady had, of which Sasuke had never seen before. "Wake up! Wake up! Uchiha Sasuke is here and he's teaching us how to fly!"

The mention of Uchiha Sasuke's name awoken Naruto almost instantly, and the mention of the word fly sprung Kiba out of the comfort of his blanket and off the bed.

"Uchiha! Can you really fly?"

"Of course!" Sasuke smirked and placed his hands on his waist. Slowly he pumped his feet off the floor and suspended his body on air. "Hn."

"Yosh, teme!"

"Naruto! That's rude! You can't talk to someone like that."

"Dobe!"

"Sasuke-kun!"

"Meh! Just teach us already!" Kiba interjected.

"Aa. You just need to think of happy thoughts. And fairy dusts." Sasuke whistled to motion Ino to come and he locked her in his palm, showering the three with those glitters and bells and stars.

Kiba forwarded and leapt to the air, thinking of Akamaru and Siberian Huskies and German Shepherds.

"Ramen! Pork Ramen! Miso Ramen! Hokage! Ramen-chan!" And Naruto flew after Kiba with his Gama-chan plushie in his little hand.

Sakura beamed at her eager brothers when Sasuke took her hand and blew her pixie dusts like blowing dandelions in a summer meadow.

"Come on," he urged.

"Wait, I don't have a happy thought yet," she hesitated.

"It doesn't have to be a happy thought. Think of a feeling."

And Sakura thought of the feeling she had when Sasuke smirked at her with all the conceitedness his being could ever muster, and yet his black obsidian eyes glinted at her with tenderness that no chicken udon soup could ever make her feel warm ever again.

She smiled at him, unaware of that part of her lips forming a kiss that, now moving forward, could only be procured whenever she looked at that handsome boyish face.

Little by little, she felt her body go light and the two of them stood in midair, whether Sasuke was carrying her or she was doing it herself, she couldn't tell.

"Come away with me."

* * *

**A/N**: OFF TOPIC! Have you heard Sasuke's Japanese voice actor sing? The Naruto staff produced **Naruto All Stars**, and Sakura, Naruto, Kakashi and Shikamaru all sang Naruto OST's... Listen to **Kimi Monogatari **or **Scenario**, sang by **Noriaki Sugiyama **(Sasuke's voice actor) and imagine it was really Sasuke singing in karaoke... hahaha... i'm always listening to it every time i write!

Anyway, Reviews please!


	3. Shoot the Moon

"Come away with me," he whispered to her, with eager excitement and incognizant gentleness.

It was enough for Sakura to forget everything; her village, her friends, her home, her beloved Akamaru, her parents. It was enough for Sakura to stretch her hands to him and let him take her away.

It was a fairy tale.

And Sakura was the princess waiting for so long on a cold, icy mountaintop.

And Sasuke was the prince who audaciously swept her away.

It was a fairy tale that she had read from books of her childhood, and she had conjured from her infantile mind before going to sleep and dreaming of a certain Uchiha since she was three.

And never in her seven-year-old mind had she imagined she'd turn back to being a child again, after growing up so fast and taking on the responsibility to be an adult – even with her mother and her father's disapproval.

Either way, she did summon that inner child in her again.

As Sasuke took her hand, she allowed him to lead her towards the window, into the night and up to the moon.

* * *

Uzumaki Kushina sprang her legs as fast as she could as she and her husband Minato ran across roofs that spread across the village of Konoha. They were having a fancy dinner with the other ninjas when Akamaru just burst from the door and pounced at Minato, causing him to spill sake all over his new yukata.

Their trusted nanny-dog barked three times, each with equal fierceness, which Minato had deciphered as DANGER. Without a time to spare, and an explanation to give to the friends they left behind, the two rushed out of the congregation and into their house.

_Please, please, please, don't let anything bad happened to them. Kami-sama…_

Finally, their foot landed on the familiar bright yellow bricks that were their humble roof. But disappointment flooded them as all they could see were a twinkle of what looked like a _nagareboshi_ that didn't fall towards the ground, but rather flew upwards to the heavens.

_We're late. _"We're late." She just had to say it aloud to somehow wake herself up in case she was dreaming. But the view sight of an opened window below them, Akamaru's howls, and Minato's tight embrace convinced her otherwise.

They were indeed late, and all three of their precious little children had emptied their beds and disappeared to the clouds. Had they been a minute or two earlier, would they be able to stop them? Had she known that they were bound to go into the best adventure of their lives, could she have the power to stop them? Had she known Uchiha Sasuke was real and not just something Sakura had been imagining since she was three, would she have disillusioned her already disenchanted daughter to prevent them from getting enchanted by this mysterious boy?

Something in her answered no in all of her questions. And trust that her children would still return to their now lifeless home was just something she could hold on to.

After all, Uzumaki Kushina's inner child was soothing her that all the world was made of faith, trust and pixie dust.

* * *

Sakura couldn't stop giggling as she felt the wind dance with her hair, and her eyes glittered to reflect the little lights coming from the houses beneath her. She was flying!

"Otou-chan! Otou-chan!" Sakura looked up to check who Naruto was calling 'Otou-chan', and saw the four Hokage carved on the mountain hovering over her beloved town.

"Naruto! Look out!" She increased her speed to save her brother from crashing into the wall, but it appeared that she was too late.

"Otou-chan!" Naruto was now dangling on his father's nose, in a funny attempt to hug him. "AAAAAAHHH! I will be Hokage _tomorrow_, and I my cute face will be beside you!"

"Dobe."

"YAAAAAAH!" He turned away from their father's nose and pointed a challenging fist at Sasuke, while Gama-chan dangled on his other hand. "You wanna fight me, teme?!"

"Naruto! Stop saying those things!" Sakura reprimanded as she flew beside him, dusting off the dirt that clung to his pajamas, and wiping off a smear of dried saliva around his lips. "Where do you learn such crude language, anyway?"

"The teme, who else," he pouted, and Sakura could only shake her head.

"Honestly, don't you ever do anything else besides fight? Even in my dreams, you two always bicker."

"Hn."

"And you, Uchiha Sasuke," Sakura turned around, and pointed a finger at him. "You shouldn't be teaching little kids how to curse. You shouldn't say bad words either! Or I will force a soap down that smirking mouth of yours!"

"You're annoying," he said, crossing his hands to his chest, smirking at her the best he could.

Her eyes widened a fraction, and her mouth hang open. She'd never get use to this cocky attitude that radiated from every pore of his body. And she swore, no matter how much that smirk affected her, she would teach him a lesson that only a mother could teach to her child. By God, and by force, she will make Uchiha Sasuke the perfect gentleman that even the Daimyo of the Fire Country couldn't match.

"You watch that tongue, little boy," warned Sakura.

"Little boy? I am taller than you." He then flew beside her and patted her head and fumbled with her pink soft hair.

"Hey, stop that!" She fisted at his chest but he dodged. In a swift moment, he scooped her in his arms as he flew about. He was going so fast, she felt she was going dizzy. Unexpectedly, he suddenly decided to drop her – a good hundred meters above ground!

Of course, panic coursed through her, her first reaction was to scream – which she did at the top of her lungs. As a normal human being, the fact that she was falling in incredible speed towards the ground didn't make her realize that she could fly. Pixie dusts and Uchiha Sasuke were all forgotten as she tried to absorb her upcoming death and rejoice in her short life – well, Uchiha Sasuke wasn't really forgotten as while she contemplated on life and death, her repressed inner Sakura cussed and cursed and devised a plan on how she can haunt him for all eternity.

"Gotcha!"

Sakura opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw were black obsidian eyes glinting in amusement and mischief.

"Why you! You are such a jerk!"

"A jerk? How come?"

"How come?! _How come_?! You can't just drop me, or anybody for that matter, like that! I could've died!"

But Sasuke only looked at her with his brows furrowed in confusion, as if what he did didn't count as anything bad or evil.

"I didn't drop you," and Sakura's face twitched. "I was only playing around. You don't think I would let your butt hit the ground, do you?"

"I, uh, of course I did!!!"

"Onee-chan!!!" Kiba called out. "Uchiha! Oi, come on! Let's go!"

Sasuke looked up and flew towards the group. Naruto was shaking and looking ghastly at the fact that his Sakura-nee-chan almost died, Kiba was growling, and Ino was seething, darting wicked and jealous looks at the pinky.

"You should learn to trust me, Sakura," he smirked. "You can fall a hundred times over, but I'd just be there to catch you again and again."

It was a promise, Sakura noted, her eyes twinkled and matched the stars about them.

"After all, I'm the clever Uchiha Sasuke. It would be annoying, but I'm fast enough to catch you."

And with that, he thrust through the wind and into the heavens, with the other two boys and a fairy on his wake.

"Second to the right, and straight on till morning." That was the destination he said they were going. But Sakura didn't quite understand what he meant. She thought it was just some random words Sasuke had came up with.

But they continued to move up and tried to reach for the waning moon that was forever moving away from them. The star beside it was constantly mocking them that they were going absolutely nowhere.

Sasuke had already released her and she was flying on her own, trailing the three boys ahead of her.

He looked back at her, and Sakura was sure he was surprised and confused to see her there.

"Who are you?" he asked when he went beside her.

"What? I'm Sakura." The same surprise and confusion filled her face.

"Oh." He nodded, apologetically. "Just say 'I'm Sakura'," he whispered to her, "always when you see me forgetting. Always say 'I'm Sakura', and then I'll remember."

She frowned at him. He was rather forgetful as he was playful. And it worried her so much that it wasn't impossible that he could forget them, or her, and he might just go off and leave them and return to Neverland without them.

But he just took her hand and led her away. Always, he would do that whenever she fell behind the group. And she didn't know if this was the gentle part of Sasuke, or if he just did it out of habit. But she concluded that she rather liked this Uchiha Sasuke, though flurried to feel her stomach tighten and her heart flipped each time he did it.

"You see that star?" he asked. "The star beside the moon?"

"Uh-huh?"

"Did you know that there were only a few times each year that that same star lay beside the moon?"

She didn't answer.

"But no matter how seldom they can stay beside each other," he continued, wistfully, "they manage to get back to that one spot we see now."

She stared at him, stunned that the insightful words were coming from an impish boy who played so much, who forgot everything that happened just a few moments ago, an impish boy refused to grow up.

"Then again, they were light years apart. Despite the many times the moon revolves, there will never be a time that these two would meet, or even a probability that they collide." Sakura whispered, her young disillusioned mind getting ahead of her.

"They're closer that you think," Sasuke answered after a long pregnant pause, a smirk playing across his lips. "That star is Venus, only a planet away from the moon. It doesn't take light years to reach each other. A pinch of pixie dust is enough."

It was then that Sakura had understood that all the world is made of faith and trust and pixie dust and Uchiha Sasuke.

* * *

**A/N: **Thank you for reading... Hope you like it as much as i do! This story wouldn't be updated as often, since i have to concentrate on finishing my other fic. But as soon as i get over the two last chapters of **Of Redemption**, i hope i can work on this more often.

Enjoy! and Reviews please...

**Chapter Title Reference: Shoot The Moon, Norah Jones**

**Nagareboshi: **falling star**  
**


	4. Arrival

They had been flying for an eternity and a half.

They had passed through mountain peaks and deserts, skimmed the waters of the lakes and the seas, jumped through clouds and skipped off a few stars. And they still weren't reaching the supposed destination.

The Hidden Village of Neverland might never have been a land, after all; nor was it ever existent. But that would be sad as Sasuke would be homeless then. And come to think of it, flying boys and fairies – _fairies!_ Sakura still gasped amazed, never really getting over her girlish fascinations over such, uh, girly things – were real, so Neverland might really be true.

It wasn't until the group exited the asteroid belts that Sasuke formed various seals with his hands that Sakura had recognized.

"Waaah! You use chakra, too, Sasuke-kun?" she exclaimed.

"Aa. Kirin!" And blue sparks formed from his hands and created a straight electric blue line. In a flash, a black hole burst and revealed an island, so much like the ones in the place she came from.

"Is, is that Neverland?" Naruto and Kiba asked in unison.

"Duh!" They heard Ino scoffed as she rolled her eyes.

"Come on, Sakura." She followed his lead, the others trailing behind them.

Everything was white. The water surrounding the island was frozen in crystal ice, the volcano on the island was giving off smoke, but everything else looked as cold as winter. And never did Sakura imagine it to look so, wintry – for the lack of adjective – because Sasuke only wore a blue shirt with collar and a black short and open sandals; while Ino had leaves draped around her.

_I'll make them a coat once we're home._ And it didn't even hit her that she had suddenly called his home hers.

However, as soon as they entered the atmospheres of Neverland, the volcano's mouth started to change colors from white to gray to brown. The brown spread down to the foot like magic, and greens popped in trees. The flowers glowed yellows and reds and purples. The ice broke to reveal a blue, blue sea.

Indeed, it was like magic. And it was spring again. And everything was the Neverland she had dreamt so many times before.

Sasuke landed on a cloud, and they all followed. He took out a retractable telescope from his pocket and looked into it.

He smirked.

"Would you like to have an adventure now, or do you like to have your tea first?" he asked them.

Sakura answered 'Tea first.' But the other two boys silenced her suggestion as they cried out 'What kind of adventure?' rather loudly and excitedly.

"There's an S-rank criminal sleeping on that ship below us," explained Sasuke.

"S-rank?" they exclaimed.

"Aa. Orochimaru."

"Orochimaru." They said in unison. Sakura shivered, Kiba glared and Naruto was suddenly flustered with anger. For, you see, they were familiar with the said criminal as they had nightmares of him and they had dreams of random fights between Sasuke and Orochimaru.

But what they didn't know was Orochimaru was no longer asleep since he was awoken by his trusted right-hand man, Kabuto. Kabuto's keen eyes and fast thinking had deduced that Sasuke was back in Neverland as the winter had gone and was replaced by spring as what usually happened whenever Sasuke left and returned to this magical land.

"Aaaah. Yes. Uchiha Sasuke. I'll have you this time," Orochimaru vowed as he peeped through his gold-plated telescope pegged on the floor of the ship. "Kabuto, back me up."

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama."

The jet black-haired criminal smiled as he clasped his hands together. After several quick hand movements, snakes of various sizes darted from a puff of smoke and propelled into the clouds, directly where Sasuke and company were resting among the clouds.

Everything happened so fast that it was too late for them to notice the attack. A fast bullet-like snake cut through their cloud and destroyed their balance. As normal humans, Kiba and Naruto had fallen in panic. Sakura dove in an attempt to catch her brothers. But gravity was more powerful than her that the two boys continued falling into the ground or crocodile-infested waters or into their deaths, probably.

Sasuke, on the other hand, quicker than lightning as he had bragged to her before, caught up and grabbed her.

"What are you doing?" exclaimed Sakura.

"I'm saving you, baka!" answered Sasuke.

"But my brothers! I have to save them!"

"Don't worry about them. They won't feel pain when they die."

"What!" He didn't listen to her reasoning; instead he just led her away. But they weren't even far off when another bout of snake bullets came firing their way.

Sasuke was blown away by the wind, while Sakura was left with Ino. And it was in that moment that one could consider Sakura most unfortunate as Ino was a very mischievous fairy, and a very mischievous fairy who didn't like Sakura very much.

Ino led Sakura to her doom.

* * *

Although Uchiha Sasuke was still a child, he was rather good in managing a home. Well, not really good as those housewives or caretakers or all those adults who managed a home. He was good as he was able to look over six rowdy children.

They lived in a tree house, but the house was underground; but would you still call that a tree house when the house was under the tree, then again you still could as the house was made in that tree. So after so much debate among these boys, Sasuke had just scoffed at them and declared the house their Tree Root House.

And their little house among the leaves and trees were never discovered by Orochimaru and his minions; for Sasuke was clever and he built a tree house under the ground.

The lost boys also ran away from home and were welcomed by Sasuke to Neverland. They hunt their own food, but since they're little kids who didn't take most things seriously, they usually ate fruits that already fell from the tree, or unfortunate wild bore that unfortunately wandered in their front yard, or they used their imagination and ate imaginary food.

They were kids, and they were in Neverland, and only magic could tell how they were able to survive.

And they were kids, so most things that they were told were no longer questioned. They do what they were asked to. However, some of them were perceptive enough to argue. But some were lazy enough not to even bother uttering a word.

So, the lost boys were consisted of six boys: Nara Shikamaru, master of indolence; Inuzuka Chouji, master muncher; Rock Lee, master irritant; Aburame Shino, master of bugs; and the twins Hyuuga Neji and Sai, master of silence and social naïveté.

The twins weren't really twins, but they were both silent and they were both ungregarious at times – just like Sasuke sometimes.

The lot was a pretty unlikely lot, one might say; and indeed it was. And they were in Neverland, and only magic could tell how they were able to get along well.

And this odd lot was currently resting under the shade of the Tree Root House, and Shikamaru was watching the clouds and Chouji was eating an imaginary potato chip that was the only memory left from his short stay in the Shinobi World and Lee was sparkling like a glass when sunlight peeked through it and Shino was counting bugs and Neji was combing his long, long, silky, silky hair and Sai was painting cute caricatures of the lost boys and Sasuke and Tsunade-hime and an unidentified lady whom he called a mother in his mind.

Tsunade-hime was the character in the story The Legendary Tales of the Gallant Jiraiya-sama. And this story was the only story that Sasuke had heard of when he was still in Konoha; but he didn't remember much about it because he was forgetful, and he never got to tell the whole story to the lost boys who wanted to know what happened to the hime and the Gallant Jiraiya. So the lost boys had wanted a mother for so long so someone could finish the story for them. But Sasuke didn't agree to it at first, but because he was kind of tired from going back and forth from Neverland to Konoha only to listen to Sakura tell tales of this Jiraiya while kept well-hidden in the shadows of the windowsill, he decided to just get a mother for the lost boys, and a mother would also spare him of looking after these boys and more time doing his adventures with Orochimaru.

But then again, Yamanaka Ino was never out of the picture. As mentioned earlier, Ino was very mischievous and disliked Sakura very much. So Ino devised a plan to lure the lost boys into doing something very bad to Sakura. But she also knew that even though these boys are _little_ boys and tended to do something they're told, they wouldn't take orders as easily as they would when Sasuke was the one who ordered it – especially when it was Ino who gave the orders. They didn't trust her very much, because they know of her mischief, and she had used some of her mischief on them.

However, Ino was also clever as she was mischievous, and she used the most gullible of them all. She just whispered, "Yakiniku for you when you hit that flying bird overhead," and Chouji had instantly took out his kunai and formed seals that made him as large as a giant and threw the kunai at the flying bird that was Sakura, who would be their mother and tell them stories of Jiraiya-sama and Tsunade-hime and the snake villain who also happened to be named Orochimaru.

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry for the very, very late update, and for the very short chapter. I'm not sure if you would like this chapter, I know it sucks eggs, but I liked it very much because it was freestyle writing (I think?).

Anyway, same disclaimer applies (i.e. Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi, plot was based off JM Barrie's Peter Pan, and The Legendary Tales of the Gallant Jiraiya-sama is a Japanese legend that Kishi has also based the Sannin from).

Enjoy because I enjoyed this chapter very much, despite having written it for, uh, three months!


End file.
